We asked three industry experts how businesses can improve the digital experiences of their employees. Here are their responses:
Jun Clarke, Senior Vice President Asia, Cint
The COVID-19 pandemic upended the workplace environment and forced organizations across the globe to adopt new ways of working.
With companies everywhere moving to a remote and hybrid workforce, now more than ever, businesses need to ensure that they create and maintain a positive workplace and ensure staff engagement and retention remain high.
With employees no longer tied to their desks, businesses need to make sure that staff are equipped with the resources and technology to do their jobs well. Empowering employees with the tools they need to work smarter will enable organizations to create an inclusive and resilient culture and workplace, ultimately allowing the business to operate efficiently and productively.
At Cint, we know that having the right equipment is key for staff to do their jobs well, especially in a hybrid-first setting. And, as a technology company we are aware of personal preferences when it comes to where people work (in office vs. at home) or the devices they are using (PC, Mac, Android, etc). As such, we offer employees a lot of flexibility.
Our IT portal provides an array of options for employees to explore and request supplies for building their own workspaces in office and at home. People can upgrade devices, load up on accessories and access any technology needs to customize their work set up wherever they choose to work. A ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) policy also allows staff to opt for their preference in the type of device they use.
Apps and platforms such as messaging programs, like Slack, or dashboards, like Confluence and Monday.com, have made collaboration more effective and seamless across all our teams. Video conferencing tools with recording capabilities then add a layer to any company’s ability to balance the times of day people need to be tuned into meetings.
With remote staff and team members in different regions around the world, collaboration can only continue if you offer options for people to embrace the channels that fit their style.
While technology plays a key component in delivering an enhanced digital employee experience, ensuring a successful digital employee experience is the company’s ability to provide constant communication and support to staff.
We run regular employee surveys to find out from staff what is working from them with the tools that they have been provided and what isn’t, and what else they require to allow them to work more efficiently. By doing this, we have been able to finetune processes and ensure our employees’ have a positive digital employee experience while maintaining an optimal work-life balance.
Joanne Wong, VP International Marketing, APAC and EMEA, LogRhythm
Cybersecurity is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s essential for your employees’ overall digital experience.
While the latest cybersecurity technologies can help to detect nefarious activity and contain and neutralize threats promptly, they don’t completely immunize organizations from being compromised.
Those which don’t embed cybersecurity awareness in their corporate culture are leaving themselves open to risks that technology alone may not necessarily be able to identify or contain. This is particularly the case if workforces are remote or highly mobile which many are today.
Embedding security awareness in employees is a low-tech way to lower the everyday risk posed by the human element and ensure that you’re providing the optimal digital workplace in a tight labor market.
Social engineering attempts are less likely to be successful if staff are taught to consider the security implications of responding to unusual emails and to think twice before clicking on links without attempting to validate their authenticity.
Other lax practices which can end in tears include the transfer of data to portable storage devices and the uploading of sensitive documents to private cloud storage.
A culture where careless acts like these are eschewed and caution and vigilance are encouraged and rewarded can reduce the risk significantly. That doesn’t mean fostering an atmosphere of suspicion in which staff feel obliged to police their colleagues and watch their own backs. What’s needed is a collective commitment to work together to keep company systems as safe as possible.
So how can organizations go about fostering this culture and commitment? It begins with awareness – and that begins with training. Not once or twice but continually for all employees.
Introducing cybersecurity training as part of the onboarding process for new hires and holding regular refreshers, for everyone from the CEO to frontline staff, creates the awareness that can foil opportunistic phishing attempts and social engineering attacks.
Making training sessions interesting and engaging will up the odds of the messages sticking. In addition, an element of friendly competition – via gamification or an awards program for cybersecurity ‘champions’ who flag and share security threats – can encourage staff to stay alert to scams and security slip-ups.
It can also be helpful to create an information hub where security protocols and tips can be posted and employees can share experiences and questions.
Clarence Dent, Regional Vice President ANZ, WalkMe
Each year, Australian businesses invest increasing amounts of money in digital technologies. Determined to drive up employee productivity, they’re deploying everything from automated workflows and communication tools to databases and office suites.
However, despite this increased spending, many are yet to achieve the benefits they were anticipating. According to a recent survey by PWC, more than half of all businesses are not realizing substantial value from their digital investments.
Much of the disconnect occurring between investment and benefits comes down to adoption of digital technologies. In order for a business to see clear benefits from new technologies, people actually need to use them.
Staff can often find they are wasting time and energy on the basic logistics of how to get work done when software is constantly changing. Many are unaware of all the functionality they have at their fingertips and are missing out on features that could have a significant positive impact on their productivity.
This challenge can go unnoticed. Often very little attention is given to exactly how staff are using the new tools and whether they are taking full advantage of their capabilities.
To overcome the disconnect between technology investment and usage, increasing numbers of organizations are turning to digital adoption platforms (DAPs). DAPs exist as a layer above digital tools and provide customized user guidance. This guidance leads to increased technology adoption and better user experiences.
DAPs help staff to undertake their jobs without having to remember all the features of the tools they are using. They guide users on how to navigate applications to get their work done. DAPs also enable enterprises to accelerate the return on their technology investments by empowering users to fully take advantage of the technologies at their fingertips.
DAPs often offer companies greater visibility into user data which in turn allows organizations to implement a truly data-driven Digital Transformation strategy.
For senior managers, another benefit is that DAPs can provide unprecedented visibility into staff usage of technology and allow them to course-correct users and maximize the ROI from technology investments. Managers can see precisely how users are interacting with applications, where they are getting stuck, and when changes need to be made.
This is important as the time wasted when an employee struggles to figure out how to perform a particular task adds up. A DAP can not only quantify that time, but also empower the business to resolve the issue by guiding that user to perform the task.
DAPs can also identify gaps between the user experience and an organization’s business goals. With actionable insights, an organization can create and deliver elegant digital experiences that enable employees to access the full functionality and value of their applications.
The threat posed by hackers and cybercriminals is real and rising and the fall-out from a successful attack or a major data breach can be damaging and very expensive.
Those organizations which foster a culture where employees are alert to the dangers and mindful of the way they engage with systems and handle data stand a better chance of providing their most valuable asset – their people – the best digital experience.
